Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

Early Spring Farmers Market Pizza

This pizza has a few ingredients, but none more important than 1) my good fortune to live a 5-minute walk away from one of California’s best farmers markets, and 2) a blessedly dry morning at the end of a waterlogged week, in which to stroll through the market and pick up a few green things between foldings of the dough.

I had enough sourdough toss-off to use in the dough, but a poolish would work here, too. My cheap but very sharp (you may ask my thumb if you don’t believe me) mandoline sliced my market picks — asparagus, green garlic, leeks, and goat gouda — thinly and perfectly.

Since I acquired a new house a few months ago, I’ve been experimenting with the best oven configuration for pizza, and I think I have it down: The stone goes on the second-to-highest oven rack. Preheat an hour at maximum bake temperature (550F). Bake the pizza about 7 minutes, then switch on the broiler and go for another minute and a half, until it’s pleasantly charred.

To make the dough, mix all of the dough ingredients by hand on the counter until you have a low-medium level of gluten development.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container. Cover and ferment for 2 hours at room temperature, with folds after the first 40 and 80 minutes.

After the dough has been fermenting for an hour, preheat the oven, with baking stone, to its maximum baking temperature. The second-to-top rack works best in my oven.

Turn the dough onto a counter floured with a 50-5o blend of regular flour and semolina, if you have it. Preshape the dough into a ball and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

Flour the counter very well with the flour-semolina blend. Stretch the dough into a 14-inch circle. Draping it over your fists and allowing gravity to stretch it will make the crust thin in the center and thicker at the edges.

Place the crust on a peel that has been very liberally dusted with semolina. Brush it with olive oil and top with asparagus, garlic, leeks, a generous pinch of Kosher salt, and cheese. Drizzle with a little more olive oil.

Slide the pizza onto the stone. Bake for 7 minutes, until the cheese is melted (or nearly so) and the crust is golden brown.

Turn on the broiler and broil for a minute or two, until the crust is nicely charred.

Susan, thanks for teaching us with your posts, and for the sight of this beautiful, Spring pizza. With the snow-filled weather we’re expecting over the next 48 hours, all those fresh veggies are signs of hope!

My mandoline is two years old, I’ve yet to use it. Washing it for the first time, I cut myself, and so it sits, relegated to the back of the cabinet. It stares at me, teases me and reminds me, “Get over it!” I really need to; perhaps this pizza is the perfect excuse.

I have made this pizza 3 times now. The dough is fantastic! Because the peels I have will only hold a 12″ pie, I cut the recipe down by about 15% and it works fine. The toppings make it deeelicious! I used the jumbo asparagus which is super tender and sweet. The one thing I add is some Buffala Mozzarella, because I love it on pizza.

I don’t get it… You cut the recipe down by 15%..? Does the crust come out really thin and crispy?

I’ve made this recipe countless times now – it’s our family favourite. I quadruple it for FOUR 12″ pizzas, as we find this is the perfect quantity for a single 12″ pizza.

The hubster and kinder prefer their pizzas medium crust, and I prefer it thin and crispy. I prebake the pizza dough on a 12″ pizza tray after rolling it out, then flip it upside down to cool. I top the upside down side that’s facing up, then put it straight onto a pizza stone to cook the rest of the way. That way, each base is cooked to preference. Delicious.

Thank you for this recipe but I would like to not use the conventional yeast. Could I use a bit more starter? I’ve not made pizza crust yet as I am new with sour dough starter and bread. Thank you again,Sherry

Hey Suzan. This is the dough recipe I always go to for my pizza, but every single time the dough seems like it lacks gluten and always tears on me. It’s extremely difficult to work with, although I find that I knead it enough. What do you think the problem is?

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